I am so sorry that it has taken me so long to post. From graduation to illness and everything in between, I finally got this chapter done.
* Be advised there are a couple of strong language parts, but not too bad *
This is a long one so I hope that this makes up for my absence. Please review for me and give me that kick in the butt to work harder.
Music(There is a ton so please forgive me)
Clint and Linney talk - "Natalie Intro" from Iron Man 2
Escape and swim- "Performance Issues" from Avengers
Subway tunnel - "Assemble" from Avengers (at about 2:30 mark is where you should be around train)
Doom's discussion - "Trinkets to kill a prince" from Iron Man 1
Clint and Linney infiltrate building- "UNIT" from Doctor Who
Square off with Doom - "Fall" from Tron: Legacy
Daddy's home- "Sycorax Encounter" on Doctor Who
Lynnea's tough choice - "The Cyberman" from Doctor Who
Chapter 8- Turning fear into fight
The following morning
At the lack of sleep he received, Clint knew that today was going to be a very long day.
He sat up calmly, rubbing his hands vigorously across his face to wake up his senses. Then he released a long yawn before turning; remembering that the cute little rookie had crashed across from him last night.
The bunk was empty.
"Oh god in heaven," he grumbled and quickly sprung to his feet. He needed to put on his socks and boots before trooping down the hall.
Did she escape and break the perimeter last night? Was she violating general quarters and out there searching for tesseract?
Lyndsay was going to get herself killed by Fury personally if he did not find her. More than likely, he was accountable for her so anything that happened to her would get thrown on him too.
The long walk down the hall led him passed the archery range where he put on the brakes.
He had located her, loading a bow with clean precision from the quiver on her back, pulling back on the string, and releasing it into the target nearly a hundred yards away.
The arrow struck the dead center of the body silhouette.
Barton entered the range and watched her repeat the motion with fluidity a second and third time.
"Impressed?" her voice asked, not turning or deviating from her task.
He was a bit bashful at first with his cheeks blushing, but he maintained composure.
"Just making sure that you did not do something stupid," he told her. "Waking to find you gone immediately sent off the bells in my head."
"So you are still not wanting to get it back?" she asked, yet firing again.
"On the contrary, I do. I would prefer that we do it with SHIELD backing and support so we do not get into any more trouble because of that cube. Besides, how do you even know where to start looking?"
Lynnea was about to fire again, when she decided to address Agent Barton's inquiry directly. She was about to reveal that which she had been up to under the pretense that she was sleeping beside him.
"I did some reading and searching last night," she told him. Actually, she multiplied herself and made her invisible form scour the floating fortress in search of the information she required.
She learned of a lapse in the fortress's integrity in the large hanger where she had acquired her weapons again. There was a shaft that lead outside that was not guarded. They could slip out and into the water without so much as a sound.
The next information she required was intelligence on this Dr. Doom. He apparently, from the meeting that SHIELD's commander and others were having that she observed, his name was Viktor Von Doom.
He also had a centralized building in the city just a swim to the coast where they would escape.
Her plan would work and with Hawkeye at her side, she would take the tesseract back to before it could be stolen in the first place, Clint would have his honor back, and she would be able to return to Asgard to her family being safe and alive.
"So, are willing to take a chance to regain your honor and trust me?" she asked.
"Trust you," he said. "Other than dancing with you in a bar and nearly getting me killed in pursuing a super villain, we are the best of friends."
Some of his jargon and Midgardian humor was confusing her, but when he did offer her his hand, she knew she had his trust.
The entire crew headed off to the galley for their evening meal, but Lynnea and Clint Barton were waiting for the crowd to vanish.
Once everyone was out of sight, the pair of archers moved quickly toward the hanger to execute her plan. Not only did they have to escape the vessel, but Hawkeye needed to get his gear back.
The hanger had one soldier that was working on one of the aircraft out in the open. There would be no way to get Clint's weaponry without being seen.
It was finally time to break out some of her magic. It would be a distractor, a voice that would call for him to step away so to complete the task.
"Go," she whispered to Clint.
He crept very quietly to the table that had his bow and arrows. Though he wanted to focus on obtaining his gear, his attention was on getting caught.
With a snap of her fingers, she rendered Clint invisible.
And it was perfect timing because the soldier looked up and would have seen him.
"Soldier, could I see you for a second," she whispered into her hand, creating a ball of light. Then she whipped it over to where the soldier would be distracted by it.
The voice spell worked as the worker climbed down from aircraft and walked away.
Clint returned to her side.
"That was close," he said, breathing with exhaustion and excitement. "How did you do that?"
"What?" she asked. "I was about to go and distract him when someone called him away." She was lying through her teeth, but she needed to keep her magical talents a secret until she knew that Clint would accept her.
It was a simple move out of the door onto one of the large spinning devices that would allow the fortress to fly.
The both of them jumped into the water and began to swim for shore.
It was not a long excursion, but they made it to the beach and walked up to drier ground.
Lynnea was freezing, but Barton came to rub his hands roughly over her skin. It created a warming sensation that allowed her body to warm up.
"Thank you," she said, looking up at him.
He was quiet and proceeded to move to a staircase that lead toward a pier.
"No," she called to him.
"No? How else are we going to get to Doom's building without walking the streets?"
"Dressed as we are and soaking wet," she told him. "SHIELD will be able to point us out anywhere. No, we must go this way," she spoke reaching for a metal cage cover and pulling it open; mostly with her superior strength.
"Oh fabulous," he told her. "The sewer and subway tunnels. How do we get to Doom's building from there?"
She crawled up into the tunnel and walked away, and Barton was on her heels.
"Your villain has many in his employ," she told him. "So many so that he has a transport station beneath his building. We will walk through the tunnels and access it from the ground up."
From the sound he made, it sounded like he was impressed.
They found a tunnel that was very dark, but it was part of the underground transport system.
Clint dropped from the ceiling vent first after smashing it loose with his foot a couple of times.
He looked around before opening his arms to catch her.
Lynnea fell through the hole and was caught by him.
The look in his eyes was one of excitement with a small, almost non-existent bit of fear.
Hawkeye had a small Midgardian torch on his belt to where it illuminated the darkness before them.
"Where do we even start looking?" he asked.
She found a worn map on the ground and was examining it.
From the markings on the wall, they were in what the mortals called the Green Line. If they were to keep marching to the north, they would arrive at Doom's building in the village of Manhattan.
The ground below her feet began to vibrate. The stone and dirt began to shift as the sound or object drew closer to them.
Lynnea did not know what was about to happen.
Then it grew brighter and rounded the corner.
It was an underground train, blaring its horn and charging toward them.
"Lyndsay!" Clint shouted, grabbed her body, and shoved her up against the wall of the tunnel.
The train raced passed them with a roaring, pulse deafening energy.
His face was pressing up against hers, holding her to the wall while his teeth were clenched tightly. The speeding vessel could have caused great bodily harm, but at how tight his body was to hers, it barely missed him.
It was a miracle, thankfully. Not tragic as it could have been and she felt terrible.
Yet another instance where she had put this man in danger and he saved her.
Once the train was gone, their eyes locked and breath was hard to come by.
"Thank you...again," she said.
He pushed himself away. "You are going to get me killed princess," he told her as he started to walk away. "I think that is going to be your codename from now on. Princess. Hope you like it."
"It suits me," she answered.
Von Doom Industries
The monolith that served as the headquarters for Viktor Von Doom's technological empire stood amass the other skyscrapers of New York City.
Security created a thick perimeter around the building and guarded all the access doors, paths, and staircases to prevent unauthorized people from entering.
Using his own creation, Viktor Von Doom lifted the tesseract and put it into the large black ring; delicately locking the crystal prism in the spindles.
It fit snugly into the stabilizer and he grinned.
"Now, my younger protégé," a voice spoke to him, "activate the energy console."
Doom did as he was told and pulled the lever on the device upward.
Electricity charged up the power conduits and began to give life to the magical cube.
"Power will soon energize this cube," Viktor spoke. "We are moments away from creating history...or changing it for you, I mean." he turned and faced his assistant.
This was a decaying version of himself. This version was dying and he was the one who was going to open a portal to other worlds; one that would allow him to live forever.
"You know what you must do now," the being that was old enough to be his great grandfather spoke. "Take this portal that you open and travel through the stars. Seek to take control of Asgard and live forever. A god in your own right and rule Asgard and Earth with an iron fist."
"But Odin will not be one to give up the throne so easily," Viktor said.
"Thus is why you need Surtur of Muspelheim to kill Odin. Barter with him," his elder self spoke. "But whatever you do, you must prevent Odin's grandchild from escaping Asgard through a time portal. Your younger counterpart had the misfortune of coming across her already. You must not allow her to escape. Give her to Surt as payment and the power of the gods shall belong to you."
"Don't you mean us?"
The elder version gasped for painful breath. "I pray that you are successful so I do not not exist. I want to look as marvelous as you appear now until the end of it all."
An annoying alert beeped overhead alerting him to a breach in his security system and setup.
Viktor went to his tablet and observed the multiple screens of cameras. Most of his men in the lobby were down.
He rewound the footage.
Two black vest figures emerged from the subway access, each firing an arrow from bows they carried. The male had a dagger which he used to stab one while the female leapt onto the shoulder of another, punched, and forced her body backwards to smash the security man on his head.
The girl smashed her fist across his face again.
"Well well," the young Viktor said, "that must be the princess you are warning me about?"
"She is, but how did you..."
"She is too beautiful to be that lethal. No one on Earth is that gorgeous and fights with that lethality." He dropped the tablet on the table and walked to where his mask rested on a stand. "I would ask you to stay longer, but I believe you would want me to meet the fair maiden before you."
"She is no maiden, I assure you. This is the daughter of Loki, a master magician and her mother became a Valkyrie so she can fight as well."
"Then I shall be ready...time to kiss the girl."
The increased presence of soldiers on every floor limited the amount of ways that Clint and Lyndsay were going to be able to go upward.
It was a choice between the stairwell or fighting numerous guards while going up the elevator floors. There was also the risk of Doom knowing they were in the elevator and dropping it down the shaft.
They opted for the stairs.
Morgan led the way, but he was not far behind her, pulling his body around the railing to catch up.
The numbers kept going up, but it was still relatively quiet with guards; making Clint feel uneasy.
A door on the floor above opened and he rammed into Linney when she stopped.
"Hello," the guard said, pulling the pins on two grenades, and chucking them in their direction.
"Get down!" he shouted and pulled her down onto him.
The bombs went off, blowing apart the staircase and entrance where they were trying to proceed.
He brushed aside her hair from her face.
"You OK?" he asked.
She nodded. "You?"
Despite the pain in his back, he was fabulous.
They got back up and realized that they needed to go down a floor to access a different way up.
Clint put a hand on the door handle and she loaded an arrow into her bow.
He counted with his lips, but made no sound.
Lyndsay's eyes locked with the door and pulled back on the string.
He mouthed three, yanked down on the handle, whipped open the door, and watched her blaze into the room.
"Nothing," she said to him.
He peeked around the door with the flashlight in hand. Then he got back to his feet and entered as well.
"OK, that is weird," he told her. "A room with nothing in it and it is not even guarded."
His partner lowered her bow and replaced the arrow inside.
"We must be close to the enemy if there was someone above and not on this level," she said.
Lyndsay walked forward ahead of him.
Clint looked down and saw the security laser that was invisible until it was crossed by her foot.
An alarm blared overhead.
"Morgan," he cried out and pulled her back.
Suddenly, the entire room sparked to life with a laser grid system. Hundreds of wire thin red lines sprung to life from the corners and walls; making it impossible for them to cross.
"Ah, there you are my little archers," the voice of Von Doom echoed over their heads. "Still alive I see."
"See you are still using tricks to stop us," Clint shouted back.
The villain laughed. "What is SHIELD thinking sending two lonely little archers after me. I am insulted. I was expecting the whole group."
"Do not think us weak master villain," Lyndsay challenged as she stared at the grid before her. "Your minutes are counting down."
"And I long to see what skills you have gorgeous," Doom's voice echoed before the speakers cut out.
He scanned the grid. Even with all his skills at tracking, there was no way he could find a path through the grid without losing an appendage or two.
But Morgan was still looking.
"You got a plan?" he asked.
"I may," she replied and unclipped her quiver and bow holster from her vest.
"What are you doing?"
Lyndsay shoved into his hands her quiver and bow.
Then she vaulted into the grid and curled into a ball.
"What the hell?" he shouted but it was too late. She was surrounded in wires of decapitating heat.
She threw her braids back and looked about.
"Great. Now how to you plan on getting out of there?"
Morgan did not answer as she lied flat on her back and rolled to her right. She missed the lowest laser, but not by much.
Sitting back up, she assessed her next move.
Clint watched her, flexing every muscle in her body while she crossed over, under, and around the laser grid. Her body was very nimble and moved with a grace he had never seen before.
"Tell me that your education included gymnastics," he called to her.
"Not in the slightest," she replied. "I have been born with this ability to move my body." She was standing vertical in the tightest area of the grid. It was almost dead center. "Think you can toss those to me?"
"You won't be able to get them."
"That is fine," she answered. "When in doubt," she added, pulling out something very small from the pouch at her back, "carry a spare."
It was a small crossbow that had one bolt in it.
Lyndsay looked up to and he did as well. The majority of the lasers were being aimed downward by a prism high above.
She fired, shattering the crystal.
Bits and pieces of shattered glass rained down upon her.
However, ninety percent of the lasers were gone. There were just a few intermittent ones along the floor.
Again reaching into her magical supply bag, a small handful of dust was poured and she waved it across the marble checkered surface.
"Want to join me?" she asked.
Clint snapped out of his lusting over how nimble Lyndsay Morgan was on top of being gorgeous to jump over and squat down to get through the grid to join her in the middle of the room.
"That was amazing," he said. "What else do you have in mind?"
"My little bag of secrets," she replied, taking back her gear. "Now, we need to get back to face Dr. Doom."
"After you my lady."
Lynsday smiled and walked on passed him.
He followed right behind as they went on another dashing breaking and entering into the mouth of Viktor Von Doom.
Von Doom's lair
"Perhaps I have underestimated her," the present day Viktor Von Doom spoke out while watching as the agents were able to access the northern stairwell.
He rose from his chair and went to check on the energizing process of the tesseract. It was not fully charged yet, and those two would be here before it was ready.
"Well, guess I am going to have to play with these cute little agent and goddess for a little while," he said to his older counterpart.
"See that it is done and do not, I repeat do not get yourself killed. I still need your form to survive as you are of importance to my survival as well," the elder replied back. "Take control of Asgard and stop her from leaving. Then, you will have it all."
His counterpart vanished, a spiritual reflection that was not even there.
The two agents were on floor thirty-five and he was on fifty. They would be here very shortly.
It was time to get ready.
Gasping for breath as they bounded up the steps, Lynnea and Clint Barton finally arrived to the top floor of the tower.
It was another door that they half expected to be guarded, but was not.
"Oh this cannot be good," her partner stated.
"Not at all," she replied, "but we have come this far. We cannot stop now."
"Not really," he added. "Ready?"
She grabbed an arrow to load and ready to fire. "Ready."
He yanked the door open and they entered the dark red and black chamber that looked upon the skyline.
But where was their adversary? He was nowhere to be seen.
"Now what the hell is this?" Clinton said lowering his bow. "We come all this way just take out Von Doom and he is not even here."
Linney tried to focus on where this Doctor Doom was, but her senses were filled with the thrumming echo of the prize near the edge of the room.
The tesseract sat glowing and charging in a black apparatus of Midgardian technology; unguarded and free.
"Clint," she said his name.
He turned and saw it.
"There it is," he said and went for it.
"Wait," she spoke. "This is too simple. It has to be a trap."
"What a smart girl you are?" an echoing voice called to them.
She looked all around the room, searching for Doom. He was using some sort of cloaking charm or something that was preventing them from seeing him.
Clint had an arrow ready, but she was more focused on using her senses.
Her fingers slowly moved to pinch the arrow and ready to pull the string back. She needed to isolate where the villain was before making her move.
"I'll have to admit, Princess, you really are quite a tease," the echo continued to taunt them.
"How does he know what I call you?" Clint whispered. Their backs were against one another in the same pose. "I just gave you the name in the tunnel."
"I know many things about you both, Hawkeye," Doom continued to toy with them.
Lynnea closed her eyes and focused. Her senses were alert and keen with all life-forces around the room. She could feel Clint's heart, but finally another heart became clear.
"Clint," she whispered back, "do you trust me?"
"What?"
"Do you trust me?"
"Not really the appropriate time to be discussing this."
"Answer me."
"Yes. Yes, I do."
"Then duck!"
"What?"
"Duck!" she howled.
Clint dropped to a knee as she whirled to her rear with her pulled back string and fired into the darkness near the tesseract.
A rippling wave materialized and exposed Dr. Doom standing near the tesseract's prison.
"Well done my dear," he spoke, "but still not good enough."
"Do you ever shut up?" Clint shouted and fired on him.
The arrow went whizzing by as he slid off to the side.
"Oh, and here I thought we were going to be friends," Doom said and fired on them.
The conference table was shattered to wooden bits.
Linney was grabbed around her waist and dragged off to a side behind a pillar.
"What are we going to?" she asked.
"We need to distract him and get to the tesseract before he has a chance to use it?" Barton suggested. "I always hated this plan."
"I'm sorry," she said. "I dragged you into this."
"If we get out of here, I'll kick your ass later." He kissed her forehead powerfully. "Now go!"
Clint raced out and slid on his leg as he fired at their adversary; distracting him.
Lynnea took off for the tesseract to free it. Her heart raced and arms pumped to increase her speed.
Doom was distracted long enough as she reached for it.
Suddenly, she was bounced off of a barrier protecting the cube and struck the ground.
Von Doom grabbed one of her pigtail braids, wrapping it around his fist while lifting her to her feet.
"Let yourself free dear," he whispered in her ear. "Why lie to him?"
"I do not what you are talking about," she said.
"You are not a pathetic mortal. You could be so much greater. You could rule this realm."
"Go to hell," she snapped back with not only her voice, but her elbow into his midsection.
Doom released her braid and threw her across the room. Her flesh was scraped by some of the splintered wood that littered the floor.
A sound filled the room.
"Finally," he said. "Now watch princess as I achieve total victory," Doom spoke to her.
The villain activated the device that held the cube, causing it to glow and shoot a narrow beam downward at the ground.
"No!" she cried out. Doom did not know that the tesseract was a wild, uncontrollable force. If it was not contained, it could rip holes in the timestream that would cause unparalleled damage.
What was going to be coming through the portal that opened just in front of the tesseract? It was taking the shape of a kneeling man with a long spear in hand. It was a form of flame that slowly took shape once it cooled.
Before it had, the being stood straight and began to scan the room with his eyes.
And she looked upon this man in fear. His presence was wild and untamed with long uneven hair of raven. His royal uniform was darker and not worthy of a princely appeal that she had known him for.
It was her father, Loki.
"What magic has brought me here?" his gravelly voice released the words. The staff in his hand, she recognized, pointed out before him. "Who are you all?"
"Lynds, get down!" Clint shouted. She rolled away, but rested on her front as the triple arrow attack went and sailed into the being that was her father.
Loki deflected them all, but turned his gaze upon her. His piercing stare sent shivers of cold fear down her spine.
"You have great strength my dear," he whispered. "What is it you keep suppressed?"
"I do not know what you speak of," she replied in getting back to her feet.
The staff's bladed tip was over her heart and she could feel this magic coming into her. It was dark, cold, and suffocating to her life-force.
What was it that possessed her father?
Lynnea swatted the staff away, but was met with an attacking slice by it. She put up her hand (a basic defense), feeling the sting of the metal against her skin.
It did not hurt, but in order to keep her life identity intact, she howled with each strike.
What was this creature that wore her father's face? He did not have an evil bone in his body. This had to be from an alternate reality, a reality where she did not exist and that he was consumed with hate.
He took her down to the floor with a strong thrusting punch into her abdomen.
She looked and saw that Clint was having a hard time as well. Doom had used some sort of magical charm of electricity at him. He barely had a chance to dive behind a large splintered section of the table to avoid it.
"You OK?" he shouted at her.
"Bow me," she shouted back.
Barton whipped his bow in her direction. She grabbed it, snapped it outward, loaded an arrow, and aimed.
Loki seemed bewildered that she did it so quickly.
"Forgive me," she whispered and fired on her father.
Loki fell to the ground as the arrow pierced him in the shoulder. Granted there was more muscle there, but it would be the speediest to heal.
Her father turned and faced her, anger fuming in his eyes before he collapsed to the ground.
"You truly are a one woman menace princess," Doom chastised her from a distance. "See you soon."
And he vanished again.
Another opportunity...another failed attempt to get the tesseract back.
Linney never felt so sloppy nor did she ever keep score like her brother did.
Suddenly, the main doors to the chamber exploded open; allowing numerous SHIELD operatives to invade.
"Move in!" voices surrounded them and swarmed her father.
He tried fighting, but with the pain of the arrow, which he yanked out with force, it was easy for the mortals to secure him.
Her hands trembled, the bow shaking with fear that raced through her.
A hand came to rest on her arm and softly taking the bow from her fingers.
"Hey," Clint said, "it's OK. Relax. You OK?"
"I don't know," she answered. "I feel as though...I don't know."
"He was going to kill us," he said. "You did the right thing even though Von Doom got the tesseract again. We have priorities too."
She looked upon the wildness in the stare that was her father.
It was an icy stare, one filled with hatred, fury, and curiosity at her presence.
Agent Coulson was there to lead the forces, but was distracted when he saw them there.
"Well," he spoke, "not surprised to see two "missing" SHIELD agents here. You both are in a huge amount of trouble."
"On what?" she asked.
"Linney," Clint warned her. "We did break out."
"No, I forced you to come along," she lied to protect him. "I forced Agent Barton to come with me. I needed his help if I was to get the tesseract back."
"And how is that lone wolf strategy working for you?" Coulson asked. "That is twice now that you have had the tesseract close to your hands and like a sloppy quarterback, you fumbled and now SHIELD has to clean up and try and win the game. Agent Barton, escort Agent Morgan down to the van and secure her for transport. She is due for a meeting at SHIELD."
"But Coulson, she tried..."
"I believe I gave you an order," Coulson said.
"It's OK Clint," she said. "Just listen to him. I will go willingly."
Linney was scared as she allowed Clinton to take her down the stairs and back to SHIELD's transports. As a goddess and fighter, she could easily flee this place and never be seen again.
What did she care for being with SHIELD now? They no longer had the tesseract so why did she need to stay with them? She could return to the temple and hide out there; completing her mission on her own terms.
But no, they had something more valuable to her than the tesseract.
They now possessed her father.
Oh no! Both father and daughter are prisoners of SHIELD. What is going to happen next? You will need to review to find out.
